Tallulah Youngblood
Appearance Height: 5'9" Build: Lithe Eyes: Dark Brown Hair: Black, long with short bangs that start at the very edge of temples Distinguishing Characteristics: Heavy spray of freckles across the bridge of nose and cheeks; ethnically ambiguous in appearance; thin wrists and long fingers Background When non-magical immigrants began settling the North American wetlands that would later become the border between Louisiana and Mississippi, they paid little attention to a small family of women living in an already-ruined hut on the edge of a large expanse of swamp and live oak trees. Indeed, muggles even now never seem to look too closely at the Youngblood house, nor the three women who dwell within, or else they would notice how the house changes with time and yet is always in a perpetual state of ruination, or how there are always three Youngblood women. Once in a generation, a casket will be born away from the house to the family mausoleum, presumably bearing the eldest Youngblood. Yet, by the setting sun of that very same night, a wayward traveller may notice three women standing on the porch, the youngest celebrating the first day of her life. To the French, they were French women far removed from their homeland, while the Spanish were pleased to find a small family of Spaniard ladies already making their living out in the swamp. Life during these times was incredibly difficult, and the disappearances of local children into the dark, lush landscape were attributed to bad parenting, poor common sense, or even the Devil himself. After the mid-1700s, the wetlands began to fill with rich, white American plantation owners and their black slaves, all interacting with one another on a grand scale. The Youngblood women too began to interact with their neighbors. Oftentimes, nearby households in both Louisiana and Mississippi might find one or all of the mysterious women in their parlor rooms, fanning themselves with ornate fans in the summer heat. They would smile knowingly, sometimes all at once, and never seemed surprised by new tidbits of local gossip. They seemed to exempt from any certain public judgment, if only by virtue of abjuration magic that kept muggles from even thinking about them too much in order to maintain the International Statue of Wizarding Secrecy. The magical community was growing too, and the Youngbloods became constant figures in local magic happenings. Indeed, Euphémie Youngblood and was a close friend of Marie Laveau and Marie Laveau II, and both families traded age-old secrets of divination, abjuration, and evocation. It was no secret among the magical community that Youngblood women were almost always gifted with the Inner Eye and possessed familial magic as old as the swamps themselves. At this time, the approach to magic in Louisiana and Mississippi was one of balance, accepting acts of darkness and light with equal measure, and the Youngbloods were no exception to this rule. Governed by their paradoxical adherence to the power of destiny and the mercurial nature of fate and foresight, they followed the tides of the change, never choosing a side that was not destined to prevail. While this often led them to the side of goodness, Youngbloods were nonetheless still occasionally involved in dark violence perpetuated by the attitudes of the time. The darkest secret of the Youngbloods indeed involved some of the darkest magic possible, which would soon come to light. During the Civil War that left American muggles torn down the middle over slavery and states' rights, American witches and wizards also came into conflict. One of the greatest issues was the use of dark arts: did age-old traditions that involved dark magic thereby represent corruption of the individual or family lineage? Very few pureblood witches and wizards had intervened in the enslavement of millions of muggle and magical blacks, and those that did only took part once muggles began the fight, in order to protect themselves from possible scrutiny that may come from outspoken abolitionism. Pure- and half-blooded families went to war over these values, revealing damning secrets at every turn in order to invalidate their own crimes. In the chaos, it came to light that the Youngbloods were descendants of a European coven infamous for using child sacrifice to strengthen their prophetic visions. In the New World, these traditions had not ceased. Although infrequent, child sacrifices were found to have occurred throughout the Youngblood's history and for that, the Magical Congress of the United States charged the elder of the three women, Perrine, with murder by means of dark magic and sentenced her to death. Hung from the live oak in her front yard, Perrine Youngblood did not seem terribly concerned, as the entire turn of events had been predicted decades earlier. The two younger witches, Ava and Louisa, had never been involved in a child sacrifice and were thus exempt from punishment. That same night of her mother's hanging, Louisa gave birth to her daughter Eula. Recognizing the rarity of a line of witches that almost always yielded gifted seers while also realizing that such a family by nature would follow any twist or turn of fate without question, the Magical Congress kept a closer tab on the women for the next century. With their dark history and a complete disregard for laws when it was an inconvenience to a foretold event, the Youngbloods became infamous wild cards in the American pureblood community. Just as likely to reveal their visions as to conceal them for no known reason (except to themselves), the women were at times consultants, whistleblowers, observers, opponents, or uninvolved altogether in the development of American magical history. It was a surprise, then, when Tallulah Youngblood, a young woman in her early twenties, walked into the International Confederation of Wizards' headquarters and requested a position on one of their special joint committees--the Magical Association of Problem Solvers. Tallulah, homeschooled by her mother Fern and grandmother Eula, was the latest Youngblood to possess the Inner Eye and just as mysterious as the rest of her family. During the long Louisiana summers, Tallulah and her mother often travelled from county fair to county fair, telling fortunes and often mixing in truth with fiction. Tallulah's motivations are often entirely her own, although one can be sure that she's driven by the cogs of fate in some way. For now, Tallulah lends her gifts when it suits her and remains a curious observer when it doesn't. She's not averse to using dark magic, which makes her the ire of more devoutly do-gooder wizards. Tallulah cannot see the entirety of the future, but acts as though she can. This is a game she enjoys, as it makes the plot twists all the more exciting and, indeed, she often treats those around her like characters in a storybook rather than real, multifaceted people. A social chameleon capable of nearly manipulative personability or intense contemplative silence while never revealing her true self in either capacity, Tallulah defies definition even as she embraces the pull of her destiny. Personality Trait: I believe strongly in destiny, accepting all events as meant to be. Ideal: Curiosity. What comes over the next hill is worth seeing. Bond: I shall fulfill my destiny. Flaw: I act like I know the future, even when I don’t. Class Seer (5e Wizard class with School of Divination focus after Level 2) Level and XP 3/23/2016 -- Level 1, 0 XP Ability Scores Strength: Dexterity: Constitution: Intelligence: Wisdom: Charisma: Equipment Skills and Proficiencies Skills: Arcana, Insight, Perception, and History Languages: English Tool Proficiency: Fortune Telling Tool Set Miscellaneous Wand: Live Oak, 12 inches, with Horned Serpent Scales for core. Alignment: Chaotic Neutral Hobbies: Entomology, bone collecting, playing the banjo and harmonica. Despite appearances, there are actually males in the Youngblood family. Males who marry into the family maintain their own family names and male children inherit their father's names, even if they inherit the Inner Eye from their matrilineal lineage. When they do marry, Youngblood women often favor weaker wizards with tendencies towards introversion and social aversion. Tallulah's father, Jessup Hart, is a noted local swamp herbologist but rarely is seen in public due to crippling social anxiety, thus leading to the misunderstanding that only the three women (Eula, Fern, and Tallulah) live in the house. Tallulah has a younger brother who attends Ilvermorny, Corbett Hart. Despite possessing only weak divining skills, Corbett is nonetheless a gifted illusionist and a talented duelist. Because he is educated within a standardized school system, his knowledge base is slightly wider than his sister's, who was homeschooled by their mother and grandmother. Category:Characters